Should You Open an Ebay Store?
Everyone always has something laying around the house that would sell on ebay. You could rummage through your closet or the forgotten boxes in the shed outside. Or, you might have found that one of a kind item at a garage sale or estate sale. Trying to figure out whether to open a store or just run auctions on ebay depends on several factors.
1. How much stuff do you have to sell?
Most store owners have more than a few things to sell. The listing fees on stores are quite a bit lower than auction style listings, but you will have to pay a monthly store subscription fee. Ebay regular auction fees start at 20 cents and go up depending on your starting price. Additional upgrades will add to your listing fees. Auction final value fees start at 5.25% and goes up from there. The higher your item sells for, the higher final value fee you will pay.
Stores offer longer listings. You can list your items for 30 days or Good til Cancelled. The store listing fees start at 5 cents, but the final value fee starts at 10% of the selling price electronics store goes up according to what you sell the item for. You will also have to pay $15.95 per month for an Ebay store. You will have to compare whether it is profitable to pay the store subscription or not.
2. What kind of stuff do you have to sell?
If you are only rummaging through your personal belongings and picking up items at garage sales, it would probably be a better idea to just run auctions. Most collectible items do better in a regular auction style listing. It has been my experience that you need at least 100 items listed in an Ebay store to keep visitors looking around your site.
3. Are you willing to put extra time into your venture?
If you go with the store format, you will have to spend a little time marketing and customizing your store. Regular store listings do not usually show up in a general ebay search. You will have to keep a few auctions running with links to your store to entice people into your store. Ebay provides a few marketing tools for the store owner, but you will still have to most of the work on marketing your store. I have spent many late nights researching how to market my store.
Ebay also provides customization for your store, but it will take time to get everything set up. The most important thing in setting up your store is to make it easy for your customers to navigate. Try to set up your store to look inviting and professional. There are many designers selling customized storefronts on ebay and most do a great job.
4. Do you have space to store a large amount of items?
If you really want to open an Ebay store you will need a room or other space solely devoted to your ebay venture. You will have to have room for storage, weighing and packing and shipping. Selling on ebay can take over your home in a hurry. I try to keep everything Ebay in an extra bedroom I have just for this purpose. Keep in mind, you will also have to have room and money to buy and store shipping supplies. Boxes, bubblewrap, and packing peanuts are a must to sell on ebay. These can take up a large amount of room.
Overall, selling on ebay can be a great way to earn extra money. If you are just selling a few things around the house,or a couple of items you found at garage sales, go with regular style auctions. If you have a lot of things to sell and room in your home to store them, an Ebay store might be for you. If you do open an Ebay store, be sure you have the time to commit to market your store. The most important thing with an ebay store is to make sure you always have auctions running to keep traffic coming to your store.
